A Man Just Died

[Visit: a YouTube Video of the Poet’s reading]

Hold on,
There on the news
the other day was killed
a Jew —
a Christian cheered,
a Muslim rejoiced —
a sign from heaven
taken by each.

Hold on,
There on the news
the other day was killed
a Christian —
a Muslim exulted,
a Jew did not care;
for he never existed at all
or failed to see the one.

Hold on,
There on the news
the other day was killed
a Muslim —
a Christian thought one less to go,
a Jew sensed victory;
one less nobody, they thought
was out of the way.

Hold on,
a man just died;
no one cared —
a whole life filled with emotions,
all the love rippling around
all the good and all the bad,
all came to an end —
a perfect human just died
and no one cared;
a flesh and blood just died
turned to some political pawn —
and they thought one day
there would ever be
a checkmate.

Today you kiss the hand that killed,
blood will soon be on your hands, too —
weren’t you supposed to love them all?
wasn’t saving one soul like saving the world?
wasn’t killing one like killing them all?
I look at you and see myself —
when did you break the mirror
to have the heart to kill me?
a Muslim, a Christian, a Jew just died,
a man just died —
when I kissed the hand that killed,
in the mirror,
the dagger was in my heart —
My hand was too busy killing me
and I thought I was killing you.
We are left to cry for our own,
no one is left to cry for all.

— —

See also: The Scream Book Blog and The Scream on Amazon